Five Reasons to Fear Your Readers

When I was taking public speaking in college, my professor would always warn us to fear our audience. Too little fear, he warned, would present you to your audience as arrogant. Too much fear would come across as weakness. The trick is to have just enough fear to come across as being humble. Fear is also a good motivator when it comes to doing research.

Writing for a blog and public speaking differ in the presentation, but some fear should be present when hitting that ‘Publish’ button. Within this post I will outline five reasons why you should fear your readers.

1. Readers Don’t Care How Famous You Are

Is your name John Chow? Wow, you’re famous. But there are some, like me, who don’t care.

Being famous in the blogosphere might be a worthy goal, but it just opens yourself up to more attacks.

Here in America, we have a strong celebrity culture. You know it’s bad when there’s an earthquake that kills thousands, yet right next to it on the front page is a story about a beloved celebrity’s death. We celebrate when Paris Hilton goes to jail and laugh out loud when somebody can’t get U.S. Americans right.

No matter how famous you are, if you screw up, the readers (viewers/users) will let you know about it. And we won’t be polite about it.

2. Readers Can Plot Against You

Have you ever heard of a Joe Job? It’s where a person retaliates against you by forging your e-mail address and e-mailing hundreds of people regarding product endorsements (male enhancement, anyone?) and political views. Since nobody likes spam, you can expect to get a bunch of angry replies and possible further retaliation including denial of service attacks. The worst thing that could happen as a result of a Joe Job is that your website and/or e-mail address is now blacklisted by spam filters.

Another example is the readers (in the form of community) band together. An example of this is when a digger’s post regarding code used to hack the copy protection of an HD-DVD was removed from Digg. The digger was also banned. The backlash was severe. The community of diggers ensured that most posts on the Digg front page had to do with the code in question. There was even a song written.

3. Readers Can Take Months to Show Up

You’ve just hit the ‘Publish’ button. And the comments start rolling in. Or, not.

Never fear. Sometimes it takes months for your post to be picked up by search engines, and that’s when the obscure readers start pouring in. And if the reader doesn’t agree with your post, the reader will be sure to let you know about it.

One post I wrote received only a few comments upon publication. Over the past year or so, the post has received about a dozen or so legitimate comments by readers. The readers are finding the post through the search engines. And not all of the comments are positive.

4. Readers Are Unpredictable

Unless you really know your audience or have the ideal readers, readers are unpredictable.

One can spend hours, days, or even weeks working on a post. When the mighty ‘Publish’ button has been pressed, the traffic doesn’t come, and neither do the comments. However, the post you spent a few minutes on might receive great traffic and lots of comments. What gives?

Predicting readers is like herding cats. The best you can do is put a bowl of milk outside your door and hope they come. But readers aren’t guaranteed. Comments aren’t guaranteed. And the reactions to your post aren’t guaranteed.

5. Readers Are Empowered

Is some guy blasting his music keeping you up at night? You can write about it. In this day and age, readers have a voice as well and can easily wear dual hats.

A co-worker approached me this week complaining about a certain doctor in my area. He said he was upset because searching for the doctor’s name only showed positive reviews and the results weren’t a good representation of the doctor’s reputation. I suggested that he head over to WordPress.com and start a blog and write about his experience. I also told him that if he was worried about being sued for libel, to start the blog anonymously. With any luck, the blog and the posts will show up in the top ten when searching for the doctor’s name.

Readers no longer have to take abuse. Readers can fight back with words, whether the fight is against companies, bloggers, or governments.

Conclusion

Whether you’re new to blogging, or have been blogging for years, readers are a force that must not be taken for granted. Readers are empowered and can fight back. And readers can come from many places, sometimes months after a post is written.

Readers should be feared just enough to keep you humble. Taking the readers for granted is when the real fear should begin.